Certifying Your Green Building Knowledge and Skills

by Brian Shultz

Brian ShultzAs “green building” grows in popularity and importance, identifying knowledgeable green building practitioners becomes ever more critical. Most of the traditional disciplines and trades established a certification process long ago as part of their credibility evolution.

For example, in today’s world if a company or an individual needs electrical work done, they know that the electrician hired to do the work was required to complete a rigorous apprenticeship program and become licensed (a form of certification).

This form of certification is good for the employee, the employer, and the general public. Everyone benefits from ensuring a highly skilled workforce that installs safe, reliable, cost effective systems that we use everyday, like electricity.

But who is ensuring the highly skilled workforce for the emerging green economy? How are someone’s green building knowledge and skills verified?

Like any emerging field, the certifications for green building are developed as the field matures and becomes more specialized. Initially the people who own, design, and manage the construction of green buildings seek a certification, like LEED, to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. They see a new market emerging, and by certifying their skills in this new market, they can more effectively compete for contracts and business.

How many people reading this article recognized my reference to LEED in the above paragraph? Would you have recognized it 5 years ago? 10 years ago? LEED was developed in the mid-1990s, and its recognition as a green building certification initially grew very slowly. Since 2000, USGBC’s membership has increased ten-fold. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a certification administered through the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance sustainable buildings.

But LEED also certifies individuals through its LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) designation. According to the USGBC the LEED AP designation “[d]istinguishes individuals with detailed knowledge of LEED project certification requirements and processes and a command of integrated design principles.” It is the granddaddy of green building certifications and the most widely recognized by the construction industry and the general public. It is intended for architects, designers, engineers, and construction project managers who need to know the details and applications of the LEED rating system. The West Michigan Chapter of the USGBC offers preparation classes for the LEED AP exam and other LEED training courses.

But what about the workers, skilled tradespersons, supervisors and managers who are responsible for the day-to-day construction work? Have they been certified in green building best practices? Is it effective and efficient to specify a LEED certified building and then have it constructed by workers who are unfamiliar with the green products, procedures, and specifications they are supposed to be implementing?

Seeing the need for a trained green construction workforce, the Green Advantage® certification process was established with funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1998 and is “[i]ntended primarily for individuals working within the construction industry – such as contractors, subcontractors, and trades people.” The Construction Trades program at the Grand Rapids Community College/Tassell Michigan Technical Education Center (M-TEC) offers Green Advantage certification preparation classes.

It uses the “Your Role in the Green Environment” curriculum developed by the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and endorsed by Green Advantage. Devoid of the complex formulas, specifications, and details of the LEED AP exam, it focuses on the responsibility of construction workers to continually recognize, use, and evaluate green building best practices contained in the LEED categories for certifying buildings.

An interesting feature of the Green Advantage certification is that a LEED Innovation Credit has been granted if a significant percentage of a project’s building workforce is Green Advantage-certified prior to the commencement of construction.

LEED, of course, is not the only green building certification program. It seems that new ones are being created almost daily. Like any new industry, the companies, associations, and organizations related to that industry are vying to be recognized as having the best standard and certification.

On the residential side, another widely recognized certification comes from The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The NAHB has developed the National Green Building Standard. This standard has been adopted locally by Green Built™ Michigan and it has a Bronze, Silver, and Gold rating system designed specifically for the residential market. Green Built Michigan offers courses in Basic, Advanced, and Rater training and the Green Building for Building Professionals certification. Adding the Business Management for Building Professionals course or possessing another NAHB certification will result in the Certified Green Professional (CGP) certification.

The proliferation of standards and certifications will continue to increase over the next few years. I suspect that in 10-20 years the marketplace will have selected 3-4 survivors that will be recognized nationally. Until then, choose wisely, get trained, and get certified.

Brian Schultz is Construction Trades Manager with the Grand Rapids Community College. For more information contact him at BShultz@grcc.edu or at 616-234-3016.